Washing machine drain overflows by wall where discharge hose goes in

Asked Sep 2, 2009, 07:53 AM
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10 Answers

Hi, I am having a problem where the washing machine overflows when in the spin cycle and water comes out the drain pipe that goes in to the wall. This is where the discharge hose goes into. House is older built in 1970. Drain pipe is 1-1/2 copper. I am aware of hearing that my newer machine pumps out faster than the old maytag. Also the older copper pipe should be 2 inch or larger. The problem is that it connects in the wall and goes down to the cement floor and into cement into iron sewer pipe. Also down at the floor other side of wall I opened in closet and I see where the kitchen drain from the sink t-s into the same pipe. I tried running a garden hose , ran fine in the wall drain for the wash machine for 30 min no overflow. If you run 1 load no problem but more than 1 back up and overflows. I would rather try to avoid disturbing all the copper connections as they are not leaking. I heard that the new machine has a water pump that pumps more volume faster than the old. There is no room for a laundry tub in this room as it is small. Can a restricter be put on the discharge hose without damage to the wash machine. The machine is a heavy duty large capacity in a single dwelling home. I should have bought a small machine instead but anyone have any ideas, thank you

To me that says that you have a restriction or partial blockage. That blockage would be fairly far away from the washer. Far away enough for the pipes to hold a great deal of the water. Given enough time the water makes its way through the restriction. Do another load too quickly and the pipes can't hold the water.

Yes new machine pumps are power full for a trap and stand pipe, solution is to close off the stand pipe where the washer drain connects to with a compression fitting or I caulked the hose in with rags and sealed it with duct tape. This makes a water tight connection between the washer and the stand pipe, see the image below.

Before you do that I agree with Harold, to be on the safe side snake the drain, good luck.

Everyone has good ideas, thanks, but my concern is this. I have a 1-1/2 copper drain pipe that comes down the wall from a double bowl kitchen sink dishwasher connection. They both by the way never have a problem and divert into the same copper drain into the cement floor that the washer does and then into the iron sanitary pipe. The washer ties into the same copper connection at the basement floor in the laundry room. I do not have room for a tub too small and other side of wall is outside or family room inside, no good. This makes me feel that the washer gets too powerful of a discharge rather then my old maytag that broke. I feel if I close off the system at the top of the stand pipe connection that the water pressure will build up , go up the wall (copper pipe)and into the kitchen sink possibly overflowing? Possible? What about this? Could I connect a rubber connector with hose clamps and add some pvc with a-- t. then I could divert downward a 1-1/2 pvc pipe to the floor drain between the washer and dryer. This floor drain is the same as sanitary which is utilized in older homes as this 1970 built. Good idea or bad as it could create a possible flood and or a floor flood problem. Other drains are fine. By the way the copper pipe in wall that the stand pipe goes into is about 5 feet long and drops into cement into iron pipe. Behind a ceramic shower so I would rather not break open the wall to install a larger 2 inch pipe as a total shower remodel would be involved here. Thanks all

First don't start a new thread to continue your discussion. Add additional information or comments in the Answer this Question area. Just like you were answering your own question.

From you description I can't tell if you washer stand pipe is connecting to your larger cast iron sewer pipe or to a galvanized line serves as your kitchen drain. It sounds like the 2" galvanized kitchen drain. Over time old galvanized pipe can accumulate a lot of grease and crud that effectively reduces the size.
You kitchen sink or even a hose does not put nearly the same amount of water into the drain in the same amount of time as your washer pump.

You can certainly seal the washer drain hose to the stand pipe. This will put additional pressure on the water in the restricted area to push it through the restriction. It is highly unlikely that that the water will back up the pipe to the next floor. You would have to have a totally block or almost totally blocked drain for that to happen. Any water backing up in the pipe will put additional pressure on the restricted area and push the water through faster.
Trying to re-pipe this into the floor drain is not a good idea. You probably could not seal a connection to the floor drain. If you did you would loose the floor drain. In some cases floor drains are not tied into the sanitary system but drain into house ground water drainage system.

Snaking the line to ensure that it is open and not restricted is the simplest and easiest thing to do. If you continue to have problems, seal the connection between the washer hose and the stand pipe.

All you need to do is find a coupling that's air tight. We have many a 1 1/2" drain work simply by closing off the washer hose and the standpipe and turning it into a closed system. In fact I have a 1 1/2" standpipe of my own in my 50 year plus home that I have closed off for over 10 years with no backups. Before you bust up the floor for big bucks try to make the connection water tight. Here are some of the connections used, (see images). Good luck, Tom
Attached Images

Thanks Harold, drains throughout house and pipe coming down from kitchen sink to basement are all 1-1/2 copper pipe no galvanized. They go into a horizontal copper pipe that runs along cement basement floor within wall and drops into cement floor into cast iron sanitary, same that shower does 5 feet away and main line was routed 1 year ago and was clogged and found out then that all go into main sanitary, plumber then told me so , main has run fine. I wanted to try this though myself before calling a plumber again

I think I would just seal the connection then using one of Tom's fittings. You could try his PVC fitting with adhesive caulking if you want to be neat. Of course there is always duct tape. Certainly nothing to loose.

Thank youHarold, Tom as well, one thing I forgot, The pressure from the machine going through the closed connection. Would a rubber sleeve connected to the copper pipe then to a small pvc nipple which is glued into the closed pvc fitting work? If I only cement the pvc fitting to copper which would be less likely to blow off? Or is there another connection option? Thanks much By the way the first time I tried to respond to you I kept getting a message that there was already a user with my name and it wouldn't let me post, so that's why I reposted all working fine now

If you have very much back pressure use the rubber reducing coupling with the clamps. If only slight pressure use the PVC fitting, only because it is the neatest looking. Try the duct tape, if that works (you might be surprised) replace with the PVC and caulking or Liquid Nails. Have to let Liquid Nails dry a day or so.

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